Lift Me Up
by AquilaTempestas
Summary: After continuous poor performances in the beystadium, Judy punishes Michael by taking away his title as captain. Feeling as though he has nothing left to offer, Michael makes the decision to leave the All Stars.


**Disclaimer**

The rights to Beyblade belong to Takao Aoki.

**Title**

Lift Me Up

**Summary**

After continuous poor performances in the beystadium, Judy punishes Michael by taking away his title as captain. Feeling as though he has nothing left to offer, Michael makes the decision to leave the All Stars.

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**Chapter One: Worthless**

"You're not concentrating, Michael. Your blade is wobbling," Judy pointed out, standing on the sidelines watching the battle closely, a clipboard and pen at the ready. "If you want to be one of the three starting bladers for the tournament next week, I need you to pick up your performance," she added in her usual flat tone.

Michael clenched his jaw. He knew he was performing badly. Rick, his opponent, simply smirked. "You're not good enough to be on the team, let alone be called captain. ROCK BISON!" Rick's brute of a bitbeast appeared for all present bladers and scientists to see. "Take him down!" The bitbeast obliged, lowering its head to charge.

This wasn't the first time Michael had found himself in this situation. In most scenarios, Michael would summon his mighty bitbeast, Trygle, to even out the playing field, but for some reason Trygle would not appear. The battle was lost even before it started. "Come on, Trygle..." he pleaded. But there was no response. Had his bitbeast deserted him because of his poor performance?

It wasn't long before he found his blade lying outside the dish. Not again. "Another round. I need you in peak condition, Michael," Judy said.

No, he was not going to further humiliate himself by losing like this. He walked over to his blade, picked it up, then glanced over at Judy. "We've been at this for the past hour! What makes you think there's going to be a drastic change in the next round?" he retorted. "Maybe you're just a lousy coach?" he added, sneering.

Judy narrowed her eyes. "I am taking away your title as captain of the All-Stars."

There was silence. Even Rick looked surprised, his usual smirk gone. "You're taking away my title?" he blurted. Judy's gaze remained hard. His jaw twitched. No captaincy. Gone. Just like Trygle who had surprisingly vanished. Not that it really mattered anymore; what point was there in being captain if he never got the chance to blade? He threw his hands up in the air, shooting Judy a dirty look. "Fine! Like I care about some stupid title anyway? Give it to Max. Hell, give it to Rick. It's pretty obvious I mean nothing to you!" he spat, rage coursing through his veins. He knew he was digging a grave for himself, but he didn't care. Things hadn't been the same since Max and Rick joined the team.

Judy focused all her attention on them now. "Michael, don't you dare walk out of this stadium!" she warned, as Michael walked away from the beystadium, towards the far back door.

Michael rolled his eyes. He was sick of being treated like he was useless. Sick of being treated like he was some retard incapable of doing anything right. Rick was allowed to have bad days. So was Max. Hell, even Emily got away with it. "What did I do to make you hate me?" he mumbled. He continued to walk to the exit.

"Michael!" Judy called again.

The ex-captain ignored her. "Why even bother, Judy? You don't need him anyway," Michael heard Rick say. "The tournament only requires a tag-team battle, and you've already decided that Max and I will represent the team. He's just a sore loser. He's not worth your time."

"Hey, watch it, Rick!" Eddy exclaimed.

"We're your teammates, Rick! We're meant to work together as a team!" He heard Emily protest. "Michael's a better blader than what he's shown you."

Well, at least he had _some _support. But it wasn't enough to get him to return to the dish for another round. Rick had raised an excellent fact – Judy had already chosen her tag-team bladers, so why hang around? To play the role of a cheerleader? No. That wasn't his style. Usually he'd be the one standing in the limelight listening to the cheering of fans, not the one cheering.

"I'm giving you one last warning, Michael. If you choose to walk through that door you will no longer be considered a blader of the All Stars," Judy said. She didn't shout, but her voice was loud enough to be heard from his position. He stopped at the doorway letting her words sink in. Quit the All Stars. Leave the team that turned him into a star. Did any of it really matter anymore? "Make a decision, Michael." Stay or leave. Stay and put up with a coach who didn't care or leave and walk away from blading for good? The decision was easier to make than he thought.

He didn't spare a glance at his coach as he took a step out the exit.

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Just a mini project I felt like writing after watching early All-Stars scenes in the third season. It won't be a long one, most likely five chapters. Oh, I should point out this story is set around the time it was obvious there was a fair bit of team tension. If you feel this should be continued, send the story some love by either reviewing, faving or alerting!


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